


Exile's End

by GooseEgg



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 03:54:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8271722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GooseEgg/pseuds/GooseEgg
Summary: His last day in exile, Luke Skywalker reflects on his now-dead friend, and decides it's time to return.





	

He felt the ship enter the atmosphere long before it ever became visible. Reaching out, he could feel two lifeforms on it. He opened his eyes, cutting short his morning meditation. Traders, possibly, or more lost travelers. He'd seen his fair share since his exile began.

As he made his way to the overlook, the sound of the ships engines reached his ears. A straining wheeze. He knew that sound. Looking around, his eyes searched for the ship on the horizon. Then, he saw it. Gray-white, with a saucer hull and two prongs at the front.

The _Millennium Falcon_. Han and Leia. They'd come for him at last. He reached out through the Force, feeling for his sister and her husband.

_There_. A Wookiee, and a girl. But not Leia. And no Han.

His heart sank as he realized what this meant. A _Falcon_ with a Chewbacca and no Han Solo. The echoing wound in the Force he had felt days ago, so powerful and crushing that it had knocked him from his very feet.

 

Han Solo was dead.

 

Looking out over the seas, he thought of the carefree smuggler he met in Mos Eisley, so many years ago, of the blaster that sat in his trunk still, Han rescuing him on Hoth, Han flinging his arms around him during the celebrations on Endor, Han cooing at an infant Ben that this was “Uncle Luke”.

Ben. Luke Skywalker's greatest failure. He dragged his father back from the dark side, but was powerless to save his nephew.

Tears stung at his eyes as he heard footsteps and felt the girl's presence behind him. He lowered his hood. He recognized her. Those eyes. The hair, still tied in buns atop her head. The same as he'd seen her so many years ago, when he left her on Jakku.

She reached into her pack and pulled out a long silver thing. Obi-Wan's voice came to him, a distant memory.

_Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight._

He remembered it falling into Bespin, his own hand still clutching it.

 And now here it was, being held out to him by a girl he'd left on Jakku for her own safety years ago. The Force worked in mysterious ways, truly.

It was time. His exile had come to an end. The galaxy needed the Jedi again. That the Force had brought this girl and this lightsaber to him was proof enough of that.

Reluctantly, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around his father's legacy. That elegant weapon, for a more civilized time.

If the galaxy needed him, he would answer its call.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was tougher than I thought it would be tbh. Also I feel like Exile's End is a damned ridiculous title, but I was drawing an utter blank.


End file.
